Monument record 6337 - LEWIS, RUBHA MOR NEIDALLT

2: NB 1939 4515
Still house
Local folklore holds that in the past an illicit still was operated in this locality. This structure is the only structure in the immediate vicinity that is of any substantial construction. Consisting of drystone walls with an earth fill, measuring up to 3m in thickness and standing up to 1m in height, this rectlinear D shaped enclosure abuts a south facing rock face and measures 8m along the face and 4m in widt. A doorway survives in the southern wall andimmediately opposite, under the rock face, is a pit measuring 1m x 0.75m which may have housed a hearth. To both the west and east of the main structure subsidiary walls may be seen and immediately to the south, less than 3m from the entrance, flows a small burn. The structure is less than 20m from the sea cliffs and immedately above a small bay that is of relatively easy access by following the stream
Burgess 1995, 42-3

NB14NE 2 19397 45159

A single unroofed structure is depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Island of Lewis, Ross-shire 1853, sheet 12), but it is not shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1974).
Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 19 September 1997.

NB 1950 4400 Based in and around the village of Garenin, the Garenin Landscape Survey carried out its second season of fieldwork during September 1995. Excavations were carried out on six sites that were discovered during the previous season's fieldwalking.
GLS02/95 NB 1928 4517 Illicit still. Excavations very quickly revealed a complex multi-period structure with a large central fire pit and a double floor drain or flue (one drain situated on top of another) leading away through a series of floors and hearth structures surrounding it. Glass and iron were recovered along with several pieces of fabric and a quantity of coked coal and charcoaled peat (both smokeless fuels). The glass recovered seems to be the remains of spirit bottles and demi-jons suggesting that stilling was occuring, as does the presence of smokeless fuels. The presence of charcoal and coke as well as large numbers of iron objects might also indicate that the site was used as a smithy.
External excavations indicated that the visible structure was built on top of an earlier and larger building. Several artefacts recovered from disturbed contexts seem to indicate an early date for this earlier building.
Sponsors: Garenin Trust, Department of Archaeology (University of Edinburgh), Russell Trust, Society of Antiquities, Scotland.
C Burgess and S Gilmour 1995.
REPORT DATE: 14/02/2005

Christopher Burgess, 1995, Garenin Landscape Survey: interim report 1a 1994-1995 (Unpublished document). SWE41175.

Christopher Burgess, 1995, Garenin Landscape Survey: interim report 1a 1994-1995 (Unpublished document). SWE41175.